The present invention relates to a steering arrangement for motor vehicles, and more particularly to a steering arrangement for motor vehicles incorporated with a display/control panel which remains stationary even when the steering wheel is turned.
Conventionally, the control panels for various onboard systems such as an air conditioning system and audio system are typically placed on a dashboard, separately from the display panel for displaying various items of vehicle information such as vehicle speed and engine temperature. Typically, the display panel is placed on the other side of the steering wheel, and the control panels are placed laterally spaced from the display panel. Therefore, the vehicle operator experiences some difficulty in operating the control panel without looking away from the display panel.
To eliminate this problem, it was proposed in Japanese utility model laid open publication No. 6-22101 to incorporate a display device in the center pad of a steering wheel. However, according to this proposal, because the center pad turns as the steering wheel is turned, a certain measure is necessary to prevent a large number of cables which extend from the display device from being twisted excessively. Also, because the steering wheel is turned constantly at least by a slight angle even when the vehicle is traveling straight, the corresponding constant angular motion of the display device would be make it highly annoying for the vehicle operator to watch the display.
In view of such problems of the prior art, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a steering arrangement incorporated with a central display panel which remains stationary even when the steering wheel is turned.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a steering arrangement incorporated with a central display/control panel which is free from the problem of excessively twisting the wiring for the central display/control panel.
According to the present invention, such objects can be accomplished by providing a steering arrangement incorporated with a display panel, comprising: a steering column fixedly attached to a vehicle body; an arm including an inner end pivotally supported by the steering column and an outer end connected to a steering wheel; and a display panel fixedly attached to the steering column by a bracket so as not to interfere with the arm, the display panel including a display surface located radially inside a part of the steering wheel adapted to be held by a hand.
Thus, the display panel is placed centrally with respect to the steering wheel, but remains stationary even when the steering wheel is turned. The control panel may also be incorporated with a control panel. The steering wheel may be also provided with at least one switch. In either case, the vehicle operator can operate the control panel and/or the switch on the steering wheel without looking away from the display panel because all of them are placed close to each other and at a substantially same distance from the vehicle operator.
Preferably, the steering wheel is connected to the outer end of the arm via a ring member which is substantially concentric with a rotational center of the arm. The ring member fills the gap which is otherwise created between the steering column and the display panel, and the external appearance of the arrangement can be aesthetically improved. To further aesthetically enhance the external appearance of the arrangement, the display panel may be provided with a substantially conformal peripheral profile.
To avoid the interference between the arm and the display panel or the bracket thereof, the bracket connecting the display panel to the steering column may extend from the steering column axially through the ring member at a position diametrically opposite the arm. By so doing, the steering wheel may be turned close to 180 degrees in each direction.
Particularly in a steer-by-wire system, it is necessary to provide a biasing arrangement for urging the steering wheel toward its neutral position. It can be accomplished in a number of ways. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, to accomplish this goal, the steering arrangement further comprises a linear damper connected between a part of the arm and a part of the steering column which is located diagonally opposite to the arm part with respect to the rotational center of the arm at a neutral position of the steering wheel.